Cleanliness has long been recognized as a condition which makes a person's living conditions more desirable. Cleanliness is particularly desired in the kitchen and other areas of food preparation, where it is well known that bacteria and other disease causing organisms may readily grow on residual organic matter on counter-tops, sinks, cooking utensils and the like. Historically, people used rags and cloths as cleaning devices for cleaning slightly soiled surfaces and abrasive materials, such as steel wool pads for more severely soiled surfaces.
Many developments have been made to improve the scrubbing performance of these basic cleaning implements. These developments have included the incorporation of a lacquer on a cloth which when broken up provided an abrasive rubbing surface. (U.S. Pat. No. 1,961,911) and the attachment of an abrasive structure on a cloth or pad. (U.S. Pat. No. 2,778,044, U.S. Pat. No. 2,910,710, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,169,264)
More recently, with the development of specialized surfaces, especially non-stick surfaces such as Teflon® and Silverstone®, and high gloss kitchen surfaces such as stainless steel and gloss enamels, developments have been made to produce aggressive cleaning on these surfaces without abrasion and scratching of steel wool pads.
It is also known that it is desirable to have scrubbing devices which carry more water to the target surface to be cleaned. Sponges are a classic example of cleaning devices which carry water to a surface. There have also been products which deliver water to a target surface by use of closed- or open-celled foams. Of course, sponges and foams have been marketed with and without abrasive structures attached to them. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,906,643 and 5,671,498)
One problem with typical cloth, sponge or foam containing products is that the residual water and food or dirt retained in the device after use provides a breeding area for germs and bacteria which contaminate the cleaning device itself. Consumers are reluctant to use sponges/foam products for longer than a few days, and yet are also reluctant to throw them away due to the relatively high cost of the implement.
There is a need for a scrubbing device which has a low enough cost to be considered disposable and yet still provides the gentle cleaning of a sponge or rag and the non-abrasive, aggressive cleaning of a meshed product.